[November 19th, 2015 - Game #3, vs TN-Martin]
TN-Martin (1-0) @ UMKC (1-1) :: Municipal Auditorium - Kansas City, MO (6:30 PM)
I've never been to Kansas City before. But I'm shocked at the lack of an on-campus arena here, and the fan support seems dismal for such a large city. It's too bad, because I think they have a pretty good team after watching tape of them, and after they beat us 80-71 tonight. I'll be following these guys throughout the season.
On paper, we thought this would be a close game throughout, and it was for the most part. We shot the ball pretty well (21-of-46), including hitting 8-of-16 from three-point range, and going 21-of-27 at the free throw line. Where we lost the game; however, was due to twenty turnovers and the fact that they scored fourteen points off those mistakes. I don't know if it was because it was on the road, but we weren't that sloppy in our home opener the other night.
Coach Heath Schroyer (our head coach) was extremely disappointed in the effort at times, as it looked like we were disinterested at certain junctions of the game. We were down by a dozen with about four minutes to go before our best player, Joshua Howard, hit triples on back-to-back possessions, and that seemed to get us going effort-wise, but UMKC kept the hammer down and won by nine. Coach Jefferson and his staff did a nice job holding us off down the stretch.
Howard led the way for us with thirteen points, while John Underwood scored eleven off the bench. Gary Reeves scored ten on 3-of-7 shooting. Our point guard, Chris Rueter, had a nice floor game amidst the turnover issues that we had. He only made his one field goal attempt, but was 6-of-8 at the free throw line, and notched six dimes with just two turnovers.
UT-M (01-01): 34-37-71
UMKC (02-01): 34-46-80
Points In Paint: UMKC 32, TN-Martin 18
Second Chance Points: TN-Martin 2, UMKC 3
Fast Break Points: UMKC 14, TN-Martin 8
Largest Lead: UMKC 13, TN-Martin 4
Player of the Game: Will Bedard, UMKC - 15 points (7-of-9 FG, 1-of-4 FT), 8 rebounds (2 off.), 3 steals
TN-Martin
Joshua Howard: 13 points (5-of-13 FG, 3-of-8 3PT), 5 rebounds
Chris Rueter: 8 points (1-of-1 FG, 6-of-8 FT), rebound, 6 assists
UMKC
Stephen Jones: 13 points (4-of-7 FG, 2-of-5 3PT, 3-of-6 FT), 2 rebounds, 2 assists, steal
Ronnie Chappel: 8 points (4-of-8 FG), 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals